This invention is in the field of devices for personal and professional dental care, particularly for removing plaque from the teeth surfaces; the invention is a holder including an integrally attached length of dental floss across a bow, and a method of making this device.
For many years teeth have been cleaned primarily by manual or power-driven brushing; and the spaces between teeth have been cleaned by a variety of methods including brushing, machine-driven jets of water, toothpicks and the like, and by flossing with the commonly available nylon Dental Floss and Dental Tape or similar thread or even rubber bands.
Until recently the most generally accepted objective in cleaning teeth was to remove food particles and chemicals, particularly sweets from tooth surfaces. However, now it has been established and is being taught by a growing number of dentists, orthodontists and periodontists, that the chief cause of caries (dental cavities) and a principal cause of periodontal (gum and root) disease is a bacterial plaque formation that develops on tooth surfaces. When removed, new plaque can reform in less than 24 hours. The causes of plaque development are not fully appreciated; however, a person's normal body chemistry independent of his particular diet, can be a contributing factor.
Plaque is the name given to a bacterial substance that begins as an invisible film of micro-organisms, and with saliva and foods, particularly sugars, forms a soft sticky white film on the surfaces of teeth and between teeth. If plaque is not removed daily it can develop and harden into a firmly attached substance called calculus or tartar, which may cause gums to redden and swell in a condition known as gingivitis. This disease is often characterized by receding gums, which causes the creation of small pockets around the teeth which trap food particles and bacteria. These pockets can enlarge if the gums become further inflamed or infected causing the bone supporting the teeth to become infected and destroyed. The weakened tissue is infection-prone and once so injured the gums cannot protect the underlying bone from the spread of this disease. Additionally, bacterial plaque produces noxious chemicals which cause cavities and irritate the gums. This is the manner in which teeth become loosened and ultimately lost, the latter stages here-described being periodontal disease.
Of the methods mentioned above for cleaning teeth, brushing is not effective to remove plaque on interdental tooth surfaces between the teeth; water jets are not sufficiently abrasive to achieve plaque removal, though they may remove food particles very well; also, toothpicks are too thick and cumbersome to probe and scrape between two closely adjacent surfaces. This leaves only dental floss, a strand of multi-filament nylon that is moved in a sawing action into the crack or space between the sides of two teeth. The unwaxed version of dental floss is less smooth and thus more abrasive and more effective to scrape plaque off the tooth enamel surfaces in question. However, the user of any floss has the problem of maneuvering it -- while under certain tension, down between each pair of teeth, including the rear-most teeth. Positioning the floss is inconvenient in most teeth locations, quite difficult in many, and almost impossible in others. The procedure generally includes winding opposite ends of a strand around one finger of each hand respectively, then inserting these two fingers of both hands into the mouth, and attempting to position the span of floss between the fingers in the desired location, and finally reciprocating the floss between teeth while also moving it vertically along the tooth from tip to gum. The floss is maneuvered preferably just under the edge of the gum, held firmly against the proximal surface of the tooth and pulled over its surface toward the chewing edge.
It is known from surveys that most people, even including those who take seriously the matter of dental care and brushing regularly, do not use floss daily, because the technique for use, as described above is so tedious. For a number of years there have been attempts to render flossing less tedious and also to render it more effective, by the development of holders onto which floss is attached. Most holders have two arms across which the floss is strung; however, secondary complications with the holders themselves have resulted in general no-use, and thus there has been no remedy to the original problem of non-use regularly of floss held by hand.
One basic problem with the holders is that floss eventually frays, becomes thin, and breaks after being used. Whether the floss holds up for five, 20, or more teeth depends upon the tightness of the interdental spaces and the abrasion the floss suffers. By the original, manual operation, the floss user merely pulled the exposed end of floss from a spool, cut off a segment, then wound the cut segment on his fingers. With certain floss holder devices, the user must, for each flossing operation, obtain a length of floss, thread or carefully position it about a floss holder, pull on some part of the floss until it is in tension, and finally secure it under tension to the holder. Whether a floss supply is provided on a spool in the holder handle according to one device, or provided from a separate spool from which segments of floss are cut as needed, the remaining threading and tensioning procedure is still an inconvenient burden.
An additional, unsuccessful approach to the flossing problem has been to manufacture flossers, each with its own pre-cut length of floss attached or attachable under tension to the holder. In one device an elastic band was stretched and secured in tension to a frame. In another device the arms of a pre-made holder are flexed toward each other; then while the tip of each arm is temporarily plasticized, a length of floss is secured to these tips, and later the arms are released whereby they spring outward away from each other to establish tension in the floss.
Even this pre-strung type of flosser has inherent features that contribute to the general non-use of flossers by the public. The holders of these flossers are made independently of the floss, and in a separate operation the floss is positioned and secured in tension on the holder. The manufacturing steps of separate attachment and tensioning of the floss to the holders increases the retail price such as to add to the already existing consumer resistance to using these devices. As already discussed the holders that must be threaded, tensioned and secured by the user, require interest, patience and skill which combination of traits is rarely found.